Sweet Nikki Brown | Half Pints Brewing Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
This beer has been brewed especially for my wife, Nicole. Just like her, it’s a little sweet, and a little bitter. This hoppy ale is nut brown, just like her hair and eyes. The addition of crystal malt gives the beer a sweet flavour while melanoidin and chocolate malts lend a complex nutty character (draw your own conclusions) to the finish. We’ve used Centennial hops to add a citrus finish to the beer.

Taste starts with a slight sourness which quickly gives way to the big bready malt character. Chocolate, a slight caramel sweetness, but the grapefruity hops take over quickly afterwards. Finishes very bitter and dry, asserting the unsweetened chocolate and sesame flavours again. Definitely a huge brew, balls out in its presentation leaning on the side of bitterness in the balance. Carbonation is near perfect, very mellow, and very thick in the mouth giving away the big malt presence. I think I'd come back to this one, it's a good sipper for a Winter evening.

More User Reviews:

Pours dark brown with a large tan head. Aroma of sweet caramel, citrus hops, and nuts. Taste is malty and nutty with a hint of bitterness; body is medium-light. Well balanced and quite drinkable, this is a pretty nice brown ale from Half Pints that can potentially be a great session beer.

341ml bottle, new label, with whom I presume is Nicole staring out from her namesake beer.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, dark amber brown hue, with two fingers of dense foamy pale beige head, which leaves a decent broken wall of painted lace around the glass as it recedes. It smells of floral, soapy hops up front, and a nice nutty caramel malt. The taste is more caramel malt, an oily, earthy nuttiness, and leafy, bitter hops. The carbonation is present, but fairly sedate, the body medium-full in weight, smooth, and creamy, but for some bitter hop tingling. It finishes still fairly sweet, the nutty malt not to be denied by the equally persistent bitter floral hops.

A nicely balanced, restrained attrition-style beer, without the size to make you stop at just one - which I have no intention of doing tonight...

I finally caught up with this one. A very decent brew for a brown, but not a top rated beer from Canada at all. Starts as a nice chocolate malt, and ending with a decent hoppiness, which surprised because it was not evident in the nose. Good drinkability. Dark brown body with abundant white head. refreshing.

Pours a very dark brown with some orange-red hues. Good bubbly head and spider web lacings.

Interesting aroma. Roasted grains jump right out, but mingle with some metallic notes that I'm just not sure about. Light caramel bringing up the rear.

Now this is a characterful brown ale! Heaps of dark malt flavours from strong nut flavours, almost smokey woodiness and nice bittersweet chocolate. All of this is followed by some palate cleansing light hops.

12 oz bottle into a pint glass. Thanks go to Deuane for hooking me up with a 4-pack of these Half Pint brews from a recent trip.

Pours a deep brown, with 3 big and foamy fingers of tan colored head. Thin yet frothy retention, yields a huge coating of lace, that lies in a sticky latticework along the sides of the glass. The aroma is sweet with notes of toffee and coffee and rich with darker accents of roast and coffee. Floral and spicy hops, and a bit of citrus, float along the back. The roast and sweetness combine to give this a really nice sticky feel in the nose.

The taste is roast and cocoa up front, that gives this a quality crunchy dark feel. Sticky toffee and baker's chocolate emerge in the back to help balance things out a bit. Moderate hops firm things up towards the finish, lingering with spice and roasty bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with a sharp carbonation that lays on the tongue with a prickly feel. This gives way to a sleeker layer underneath that moves the sweetness through. Nice interplay here between the contrasting feels, which keeps this moving easily across the palate.

Absolutely nothing to complain about here! Just a really, REALLY solid American Brown, that provides robust (and roasty) flavors with an excellent quaffable nature. Good stuff!

A - a rootbeer brown with a short tan head that dissipated to random islands of foam
S - sweet molasses and brown sugar with citrus and roasted almonds
T - brown sugar and caramel malt, nice floral citrus hop character, roasted nuts and light chocolate, a fantastic mix
M - smooth and rich with a carbonation kick leading to a pleasant hop bitter, full feel throughout
D - this needs to become a flagship beer from Half Pints, it's just too good to be seasonal, the balance of sweet, malty, and hoppy flavours is outstanding

Opaque and a dark, woody brown colour with root beer highlights. A good layer of cream-white head sticks around a while and leaves some decent lacing.

Citrus hops hit the nose first, followed with brown bread, nuts, light pine, toffee and a little roast. Smells pretty fantastic, though maybe not as powerful as it could be.

Lots of earthy hops up front (pine, grass, soil); nutty, roasty malt (with a perfect touch of molasses-y sweetness) through the middle and just enough drying dark chocolate (along with a hint of espresso) on the finish to make you want to keep sipping regularly. Bits of the citrusy hops found in the nose peek through along with a nice mineral profile. (This bottle might not be as fresh as it could be; I'm remembering it on tap as more of a 4.5 rating on taste.)

This is really great stuff; the bottle just disappeared. Finishing off a sixer would be effortless. If I lived in Winnipeg I don't think I'd drink much else through the winter (other than for reviewing purposes, of course). I had a great night at the King's Head in Winnipeg where they had this on tap; many pints were consumed and I couldn't even consider ordering anything else. Half Pints, why isn't this one of your regular brews? Probably my favourite amongst one of Canada's best line ups and quite possibly the best brown ale I've tried.

One of the nicest looking brown's I've poured. Deep dark brown, blocks all the light at its thickest, but a kind of orange tinged brown shows where the glass is thinner. Three fingers of tightly bubbled beige head. Good retention and plenty of lacing.

Nuts and caramel hit the nose with a sort of citric hop balance that is notable but not strongly so. Faint ash impression. Smells nice.

Full flavoured, sweet up front, with a caramel lean, but well balanced for the rest, with some bittersweet chocolate in the middle and a long citrus hop finish.

Fuller bodied than most browns, leaning towards a mouthfeel I'd expect from a porter. Tingly carbonation is just a bit sharper than I'd like, but doesn't really take away from the impression.

Browns are meant to be drinkable, and this is a very good brown. I seem to like the style more than most craft lovers, and have wanted to get my hands on this brew ever since my first taste of Half Pints. This didn't disappoint.

Bottle courtesy of Oakbluff: Poured a deep brown color ale with an average foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of deep caramel and toffee malt is quite interesting. Taste is a nice mix between some caramel and toffee malt notes with a medium dry hoppy finish. Full body with some good carbonation. Very well done over all but was hoping ( and would have like) a hoppier finish.

Came in a 6 pack, all the more of this goodness to enjoy. Pours out with a tall spongy off-white head that slowly settles to a frothy cap. The body is a vibrant slightly hazed translucent mahogany hue, very attractive.

Bright floral hops at first in the aroma, yet as it sits and warms more the character is more toasted and nutty, with hints of coffee and chocolate.

Hits some right notes in the flavour right from the start. Intense toasted and nutty notes up front, some light citrus lurks in the background in the middle, and surprisingly enough harmony between notes of coffee, chocolate and grapefruit on the finish. The hops keep the finish clean and then subside, while there's the chocolate, coffee and some nutty toastiness that lingers in the aftertaste.

Medium-bodied mouthfeel, a bit slick at times, low carbonation, yet more fullness in texture on the finish.

My new favourite brown ale, enough complexity to keep things interesting yet not too intense to mar it as a session beer. Never thought I'd enjoy an assertively hoppy brown, but they're utilized with enough refinement to compliment it all as a whole. Kudos to Half Pints on yet another well executed beer!

A- Pour is a cola brown with lots of red highlites throughout. Frothy tan head rising to nearly 2 inches. Small ring of lacing above this brown.

S- The nose is fantastic, just what you'd expect in any good american brown ale. The citrus hops are right there upon first whiffs. Caramel and chocolate notes are quite evident. Underlying soapy and bitter roast aromas.

T- I first started writing this down halfway through the bottle and thought the hops weren't as noticeable as they were in the nose, but they really came through as it warmed. Balanced nicely with the malt.

M- Carbonation is on the higher side, body is lighter. Tingles at the start, smoothes out near the finish.

O- Nothing to complain about here, a solid ABA from one of Canada's finest.

Beer is dark brown with a smallish tan head which fades fairly quickly. A lot of lacing.

Smell strongly contains roasted nuts, as well as some chocolate. Some hop scents poke through as well: pine and some citrus.

Roasted nuts for flavour, with chocolate, bread and a touch of coffee. The strong malt flavours are accompanied by a hop flavour, pine and some citrus. Good mix. A nice balance between the rich sweet malt and bittering hops. A bit like a hoppy porter, though the strong nutty flavour emphasizes the brown ale.

Medium to light bodied, moderately carbonated. Bready.

Overall, quite good. No date on the bottle. so I don't know when it was bottled, but it tastes good to me.

This is one fine kick ass american brown. Move over DFH Indian Brown, and make way for this treat, my new favorite example of this style.

Appearance
Pours a clear deep brown, almost as dark as a cola. A one finger light tan coloured head formed on the pour, and its ruby hued body reveals itself where it allows light through its dark body. A mildly carbonated ale that produced thin yet intricate lacings.

Aroma
Cascade hops please the nose with their aromas of ruby red grapefruit. Nutty malts with a hint of toffee also present, along with lesser hints of chocolate. The goldings are also noticable with an earthier, more floral and milder presence than the cascades.

Flavour
I love this beer, it happens to be my favorite from this fine brewer so far. Nice nutty character of creamy hazelnut and more bitter walnut form a tasty malt backbone which is further enriched by slight hints of buttery toffee and cocoa powder. These rich malts are perfectly counterbalanced by an aggressive dose of cascade hops with their essence of ruby red grapefruit. More subtle goldings are also there to provide a more floral and earthy hop character.

Mouthfeel
An awesome american brown, light to medium bodied, and its rich nutty malts are wonderfully balanced with a good dose of hops. Mild level of carbonation present, and the cascades provide for an almost lingering hop bite.

Drinkability
A very drinkable and certainly sessionable brown ale. Would also serve as a great introduction to hoppier beers, making a great gateway beer to IPAs. Highly recommended to fans of this style.

Pours a hazed red/brown, thin off white head forms, nice lacing, good retention. Smell is sweet and malty, nutty, dates, light roast, some grains and citrus, very nice. Taste is very malty, roasty, grains, grass, nuts, dates, very clean, great flavour, bit toasty in the finish. Mouthfeel is light bodied with low to medium carbonation, very smooth. The best brown ale I've ever had, great work.

T - Bitter citrus hops right off the top, but then a nice sweet chocolate and bitter espresso coffee finish. Was absolutely blown away by this one, as I had no idea what to expect and it was a flavour explosion!!!

M - Perfect on the palette, nice and light and bubbles nicely on the swallow. Surprisingly light for a beer with such a dark appearance. Not overly carbonated, just perfect!

D - I'm pretty sure that if I could get this locally it would be my new go-to beer. So jam packed full of flavour and perfectly balanced.